The original concept of in-container sterilization of foods has come a long way since Nicholas Appert first introduced ‘the art of canning’ in 1810.
He eventually received a prize of 12,000 French francs from the French government for inventing a method for safety preserving foods for long term storage.
Nicholas Appert showed that the application of thermal treatment to foods contained in tightly closed cans was able to preserve them from spoilage.
About 50 years later it was Pasteur who gave sense to this procedure by discovering that microbes were responsible for the deterioration of foods and heat acted killing them.
While at the same period, Nestlé started the production of condensed milk and powdered milk by concentrating milk through evaporation.
In 1819, William Underwood of the United States started the first canning factory in Baltimore.
To preserve foods in boiling water took too long, requiring about 6 hours, therefore salt was added to the water bath which increased the boiling temperature, thereby shortening the processing time.
This followed by the discovery of the pressure cooker and later the autoclave, which has gone through subsequent improvement to result in today’s still retorts.
In 1945, researchers studied the effect of heating the germ, at various moisture levels for different periods in a hot air oven, on the enzyme activities and its stability during storage at 37 degree C in laminated metal foil.
FMC Corporation introduced the continuous agitating cookers in the 1950s, and at about the same time, Steriflamme process was developed in France.
Steriflamme is a flame sterilization process in which rapidly rotating cans pass through live flames at temperatures of about 2000 ° F.
History of heat treatment on food
